The Full Hannibal

If you've never seen Hannibal perform you are simply missing out. He is a master at slight of hand with a wit sharper and faster than a samurai's katana. I consider myself to have a rather keen eye and perception for detail and his act completely dazzled me from start to finish. Truly an amazing talent, and once I met him, an amazing soul to boot.

The show of his that I attended was a special one in that he had a third act planned that no one had ever seen before. In fact, the core of this act was something no one had seen in many years: Hannibal, fully exposed.

He, like many of us including myself, is working on conquering the crippling body image issues we all face every day. Some more than others. He admitted on stage that he'd not taken his shirt off in public, even for his own wife, in over two years. That night however he would undress and expose himself and hand out markers to the audience so that they may come up and write their own negative body issues onto him and he would "take them away" from them. What truly struck me was how most of the messages the audience wrote were not about their own negative issues but of positive reinforcement for Hannibal himself.

The entire ordeal was incredibly moving and even brought tears to my eyes while I was shooting. The emotion in that room on that night was so palpable and real and I'm honored he asked me to be a part of it and capture the process. I hope, through these humble images, I can convey at least a piece of the powerful feelings from that night.